Intoxicant
by SerenNoir
Summary: Chloe and Alek share a drink, and some unspoken feelings.


**Intoxicant**

Author's Note: First step into this wonderful fandom, and I'm also writing this while I'm drinking so inaccuracies can be blamed on drunkenness. This is set sometime directly after "Dogs of War", if Alec hadn't shown up and kissed Chloe in front of her house.

* * *

Tears swim in my eyes as I try to swallow down the vile, burning liquid. Swishing it around with my tongue does little to ease the discomfort that I was currently putting my throat through. I don't know why I let Alek talk me into this. Over the years, my mother let me sample some of her expensive wine and champagne. I hadn't taken a liking enough to try to procure some of it on my own without her knowledge. I'm in over my head here.

Alek grins at me from over his shot glass, widening his eyes in what he thought must be a comical mocking of my own.

"Ah, it hurts!" I exclaim once I am able to finally rid myself of the robust liquor.

Alek frowns at the bottle he holds in his hand. "Well, it definitely shouldn't. This is supposed to be the smoothest around. It is Stoli, after all."

"I'm just not used to it, is all." I flick my tongue against the roof of my mouth, tasting the remnants of the vodka on my palate. I feel the warmth spreading down deep into my belly and instantly realize why people liked doing this. It felt good.

However, no matter how good it feels right now, some half-hidden sense of preservation tells me to not let Alek talk me into another shot.

"Is there some way you can…dilute it or something?"

Alek thinks for a moment before raising a finger for me to pause. He pulls a jug of cranberry juice out of the fridge. After filling a cup with ice and way too much liquor than I am comfortable with, he tops it off with a hefty dose of the juice.

"Try it now. I think you'll like it better like this."

I take the glass gingerly from him, raising it to my lips and taking a careful sip. I can barely detect the hint of the liquor, but otherwise it tastes exactly like what cranberry juice normally tastes like. I sip a little bit more, smiling at him through the ice in my glass.

Tonight is one of the rare nights he and Jasmine doesn't have me training my ass off. So when Alek asks me if I would like to have a few drinks with him, I jump at the chance. Anything is better than having sore muscles in the morning. Besides, there's a first time for everything and experiencing my first drink would be a lovely break from all the supernatural craziness my life is turning into. It's safe. It's a normal teenage experience.

I lean against the kitchen island. Alek's pouring himself another drink by this time. I notice his hands are shaking as he drops ice cubes into his glass.

"Are you okay?" I move to touch his arm gently, but he jerks away from me as if I had burned him.

"I'm fine." He punctuates this with a deep gulp of his own drink. One he hadn't mixed with juice. Even through the haze my brain is currently trying to put on me, I set my drink down and move closer to him.

"Do you want to talk about what happened today? It was reckless and stupid of me to trust that boy, I know. Still, you shouldn't have done that; you shouldn't have protected me."

Alek's eyes are an unfathomable pool of emotion. I wish I knew what he was thinking; that this Mai species had telepathic links to each other.

"I'm supposed to protect you. I would have failed my duties if I did not step in today."

I can't help the feeling that washes over me at his words. It's his duty to protect me and lately, he is working overtime. My need to help others no matter the situation was landing me in a lot of trouble. A part of me wishes Alek had more reasons than just duty to want to keep me safe. Today opened my eyes to the potential that Alek and I had. His loyalty to me is unfailing, and he is also someone completely attainable. I wouldn't have to fear kissing him.

My thoughts draw me down to his lips, pliant and inviting and probably as soft as they look. I think he notices because he takes another deep drink from his glass. He plants his hand, palm up, on the counter between us. I lightly trace his heart lines with my fingertip without thinking.

"Chloe, don't." His words hold a biting tone, and I halt quickly. Alek's brows are furrowed so deep that I cannot stop myself this time. I bring my fingertips to his forehead, gently smoothing out the tension. Within seconds, Alek's glass is sitting on the counter forgotten and I'm being pulled forward by my waist.

I'm entirely too close to him, and my body was already burning through with a heat to begin with. Now that heat is replaced with a completely different kind, a kind that my inexperienced body can barely keep up with. I can feel the pads of his thumbs rubbing crop circles into the soft skin of my hips. His touch is akin to fire licking at my flesh.

I choke back a moan and feel a blush rising up my neck at my response to his ministrations.

"You don't have any idea, do you?" His voice is hoarse and quiet as if it pains him to talk this way. "I can't stand to see you with him. I can't stand that he makes you happy. I know I sound selfish, but I wish you would look at me the same way you look at him. What is it about me that can't compare to _Brian_?"

He spits Brian's name at me as if it's as volatile as gasoline flooding his mouth. I want to defend my friend to Alek, but it's so hard when he has me this close. Those damn fingers of his are still hovering over the thin skin covering my hip points.

"I never asked to be Mai."

He smirks at me then. "Chloe, don't be silly. None of us did." He sways forward and his mouth is so close to mine in that moment. I try to inhale a few shaky breaths, but at this point breathing has taken a back burner.

"I can't compare you to Brian, because you and Brian are two different people. Polar opposites, even. Brian is—he is everything I've ever dreamed of. He's kind and he's genuine. He is everything I want to happen in my life. I want to have a normal life and Brian is my only path to normalcy." The words are rushing out of my mouth as fast as I can think them.

Alek looks like he's been slapped and he pulls away from me completely, hand automatically reaching for the bottle of vodka between us. I encircle my hand over his fingers, stopping his progress.

"But you—you are everything I don't have the imagination for. You are selfless; you look out for me and you don't even really know me. Sometimes I wish you would just leave me alone, but you never do and those end up being the times that I need you the most. If I can't have the normal life I so desperately wish for, can I least have you?"

Bewildered at the word diarrhea that has just escaped my mouth, I stare wide-eyed at the table. With enough luck, perhaps my Mai powers would summon a black hole in the tabletop to suck me in.

"That sounded bad; I'm sorry. I didn't mean that I would be settling if I chose you—". I clamp my fingers over my mouth in desperation. "I'm going to stop talking now."

To my surprise, Alek smirks at me in that quirky boyish way of his. It melts my insides a little but at this point, I'm not going to tell him that.

"Chloe, Chloe, Chloe, when are you going to learn that settling would be with anyone other than me, hm?"

I try to work up a decent retort to how conceited that sounded, but everything comes to a screeching halt when Alek is suddenly in my personal space again and this time, he's pressing that wonderful, full lower lip of his in between mine. It takes me so by surprise that I almost bite down in reflex. His groan of pleasure at the grazing of my teeth does not go unnoticed by me.

His dexterous fingers have found my hip bones again and this time, I press into them forcefully. If my mouth can't get across to what he means to me, hopefully my body can do a better job. His presses back just as quickly, efficiently trapping me between the counter and his lean muscular frame.

My body is burning at how close he is to me. He towers over me, but instead of feeling intimidated and frightened, I feel like the most powerful woman in the world. Alek is resilient and unyielding, but here in this position, I feel like the dominant one. He is my protector in every sense of the word, but I know I can will him to my every beck and call. This sort of power exhilarates me.

Swiftly, I break away from his lips and angle my head to get access to his neck. My lips graze over his jugular ever so softly. In any species, baring your throat is a sign of submission. It takes a moment before he catches on to what I'm doing and it's all I can do to keep him from devouring me right then and there on Jasmine's breakfast table.

"I'm so out of my element right now," he huffs impatiently. I slip my finger in the spaces between each of the buttons on his shirt.

"No, let me tell you about being out of element. First, you get me liquored up for the first time and then you take advantage." I muster up the best doe eyes I can manage without laughing, but it is a failed attempt.

"I'm in love with your smile," he breathes across my lips. Suddenly, we're serious again. His mouth coaxes the strangest noises out of my own and if his body wasn't literally holding me up, I'm certain I would be a puddle at his feet by now.

His hand grazes up the small of my back and some instinctual urge brings my lower body closer to his in the process. I can feel his careful inhalation against my mouth and the act pulses a strong ache between my legs. I kiss him, hard, not knowing what else to do to satiate this need I'm suddenly feeling. The words that fall out of his mouth next are too erroneous to repeat, and I gasp as I feel myself being lifted onto the island.

I barely register Alek's hand beginning its slow ascent up the front of my shirt. His sure fingers press softly into my ribcage, the flesh yielding willingly to his ministrations. I sigh and lay my forehead against his shoulder as he brushes the underside of my breast. His free hand moves through my hair and just like that, the warmth of his hand leaves my chest.

"I have to stop, beautiful. It's not right to have you like this; I don't want you to regret anything."

Though every cell in my body protests, I nod glumly. If I have the chance to have Alek like this again, I want us to both be completely sober. I raise my arms up, and he effortlessly lifts me. I wrap my legs around his waist and allow myself to be carried to the couch in the living room. It feels as if all the energy has been suddenly zapped from my body. Instead of dumping me like I expect him to do, he lays back and pulls me on top of him. My head nestles in the spot between his arm and chest and our legs tangle together at the far end of the couch.

"I'm not asking you to choose me, but would you?" He voice reverberates through his rib cage and the vibrations soothe my swimming head. I nod ever-so-slightly as my eyelids succumb to the heaviness pressing on them. The last thing I consciously recall is Alek running his fingers through my curly hair, wrapping the strands around and around. Just like he has me.


End file.
